Claude Puel says it will be impossible for his Leicester City side to stop Chelsea’s Eden Hazard at Stamford Bridge – and he should know.

The City boss played a major part in Hazard’s early career as manager at Lille and he says the Belgian has developed into one of the best players in Europe.

Puel brought him into the first-team training at Lille when he was 16 and Hazard has often stated how influential Puel in his career.

Puel reflects on an early Hazard outing in a friendly against Bruges when the teenager demonstrated the potential he has now realised at Chelsea.

“I saw him in the under-18s and after that with the under-21s and I took him after the beginning of the season after one or two months to train with the first team, to try to make a different training session,” Puel said.

Read More

“He was 16 and one time we played a friendly game against Bruges and he was superb because he showed the ability to dribble past five or six players in a short space and then stop in the box and to find a good assist or score a good goal.

“He is a fantastic player. He was the same as he is now – he had the same qualities such as penetration and dribbling but now he has more consistency.

“Now with good maturity, there was no need for him to have separate protection for him.

“He can continue to make progress. After, I don't know if he has to stay at Chelsea or no – is that a problem? But I think he can continue to develop as a player.

Lille's Eden Hazard against Montpellier in May 2012 (Photo by PASCAL GUYOT/AFP/ GettyImages)

“He has all the qualities to play for all the great teams in Europe, of course.

“He can make the difference so for me he is a top player in Europe.”

As good as Puel believes Hazard is and the threat he presents to City tomorrow, Puel said he wouldn’t be singling him out for special attention.

“It's not possible to stop him because he cannot play just in the same position,” said Puel.

“During any game he can play on the left, the right, as a striker or just near a striker where he comes back to take the ball.

“I think it's just important to have a good organisation and good structure around him to give the chance of sometimes winning balls and duels against him. If you do that, then there's a possibility to stop him from providing assists or good possibilities.

“Since I've been a manager or coach, I haven't set out to assign a marker on one player.”